Upwardly acting sectional doors have become commonplace in a variety of applications including buildings, trucks, and trailers. These doors are characterized by a plurality of hinged sections or panels that articulate in a pivoting fashion as the door is moved from a generally vertical, closed position to a horizontal, open position. Attendant to the pivoting of door sections is the risk of entrapment between those sections, which has led to the development of a number of pinch-resistant designs. Such doors are formed with section interfaces that eliminate the finger and/or hand entrapping gaps that otherwise might open and close as the sections articulate.
In one such door, mutually facing convex and concave curved surfaces are formed across the lateral width of the door. During the transition from the closed door condition to the stowed open door condition, the space between these surfaces is dictated by the hinge between the panels, which causes the facing sides to shift in relation to each other as they articulate around their associated axes. This space remains during articulation of the door section, but decreases along the direction of articulation during at least a part of the transition into the state of maximum articulation to reduce the likelihood of a foreign object entering the gap and becoming pinched between the sections.
In another system, the hinged door panels are provided, at their facing edges, with areas that curve around the axis of the hinges to eliminate the occurrence of a gap, as wide as a finger, at any angle between the panels. When the door is in a closed state, shoulder areas engage each other in the vicinity of the interior surface of the door and outside the curved edge areas that extend from the outer surface of the door.
In yet another door system, male and female portions are formed on an adjacent garage door panels to cooperate with each other in such a manner so as to minimize the gap therebetween, thereby protecting human fingers from being pinched by both the inside and outside of the garage door. Each panel is securely fastened to a structural member, which supports the weight of the panel. Adjacent structural members are vertically aligned with one another and coupled together by a hinge pin and hinge sleeve. Each structural member cooperates with an adjacent hinge sleeve so as to prevent human fingers from being pinched by the inside of the garage door.
In still another door system, known in the industry, a plurality of panels are pivotally connected to one another with mating upper and lower edges of the adjacent panel providing a pinch-resistant configuration during the articulation of the door. In this door, assembly and installation are more easily and efficiently accomplished, because the door panels provide contact locations between mating upper and lower edges of the panels. The configuration of these contact locations aligns the panels relative to one another during installation. Additionally, the hinge assembly includes a pivot axis which is positioned between the front and back faces of the panel to enhance the pinch-resistant operation of the door.
When installing a sectional door, the sections or panels are generally stacked in the opening and temporarily retained by nails or other suitable fasteners until the hinges are installed. Then, roller stems are placed in the roller carriers and the track system is installed over the rollers and attached to the frame around the opening. To facilitate stacking, the prior art teaches that the panel to panel interfaces on the door sections must have load-bearing surfaces. These load-bearing surfaces are normally somewhat flat and perpendicular to the face of the panel to carry a substantial portion of the weight of the stacked panels. Further, the panel to panel interface must align the panels with each other and prevent the panels from moving either in or out during installation of the hinges, rollers and the track system. For proper operation, these considerations need to be met, and the panels need to articulate proximate to each other during the normal operation of the door without rubbing or abrading or opening a gap sufficient to insert a finger or hand. As mentioned, one solution is to manufacture panel to panel interfaces that position the panels during installation using a hinge to raise the panel and define the clearance therebetween. Unfortunately, manufacturing tolerances and variances make this method troublesome. In most cases, the door sections are connected with hinges, which include a roller stem carrier formed integrally with a hinge. Thus, as described above, the hinge is installed prior to insertion of the rollers and before the stacked panels can be supported by a track system. While this improves the panel spacing in the interface area, as the panels get larger and heavier it becomes more difficult to insert the hinges.
Typically, the hinges have two leaves and a hinge pin, which becomes the pivot point of the hinge and holds the leaves together. It is known to have part of each leaf arranged to form a knuckle so that the hinge pin is not required. Ordinarily, the hinges are attached to the panels with fasteners such as screws driven into the panel itself or a component of the panel such as a stile. In some prior-art hinges, the hinge serves as the roller carrier and accepts the roller pin. In these single-leaf designs, the hinge pin is used to attach the hinge leaf to the stile. In either of the above-described designs, the roller location must remain constant to the lower panel or undesired movement of the panels through the transitional radius will occur.
The door sections are normally packaged for shipment by bundling in pairs or four section packs. The counterbalance system, track system, and remaining hardware are packaged separately in one or more additional packages. These packages that are separate from the panel packages are different in size leaving undesirable voids in the shipping container as well as the possibility of missing components, when the door components are delivered to the job site. One solution, in the industry, was to bundle similar components together to minimize lost space. Unfortunately, the components needed to be separated at the shipment termination requiring additional time to prepare the door for installation. Further, this did not relieve the possibility of components being lost during shipment and additional handling of components. In some instances, the door panels are constructed of component parts such that the panels, track, and counterbalance system could be broken down and packaged together. While reducing the number of lost parts, handling and storage or stowage become a significantly greater burden.